When Brenda heard the news, truth about the botched circumcision she cut her hair and changed her name to David. In order to undo the changes David’s body had gone through as Brenda with estrogen therapy, he had a double mastectomy as well as surgeries to construct male genitals, and began receiving testosterone injections.

A Tale of Sex Science and Abuse

The Boy Who Was Raised as A Girl

On 22 August 1965 Janet Reimer was granted her dearest wish: she gave birth to twins. The two boys, Brian and Bruce, were healthy babies, but they would lead tragic lives, blighted by one scientist’s radical theory. Bruce would later rename himself David.

David Reimer was one of the most famous patients in the annals of medicine. The story of David is a terribly sad one. He had also been both a boy and a girl, thanks to one of the darker episodes in the history of pseudoscientific hubris. David was born as a boy named Bruce. He had an identical twin, Brian. David had to undergo a transformation that he had no say in when he was just a baby.

David, and his brother each had a minor medical problem involving his penis, and a doctor decided to treat the problem with circumcision. The doctor botched the circumcision on David, using an inappropriate method and accidentally burning off virtually David’s entire penis. A malfunction in the doctor’s equipment (electrocautery needle) caused the needle to burn Reimer’s penis from tip to base.

The Reimers were left with a dilemma: a son with no penis. They visited several medical experts who assured them that penile reconstruction would prove worthless. The Reimers were at a loss as to how to help David. Most of his penis was burned off, and reconstructive surgery was too primitive at the time to restore it. Dr. John Money, a sexologist at Johns Hopkins University, persuaded Reimer’s parents to have their son completely castrated and raised as a girl that they renamed Brenda.

David’s parents (farm adolescents barely out of their teens) were referred to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, home of the world’s leading expert in gender identity, psychologist Dr. John Money, who recommended a surgical sex change, from male to female. David’s parents eventually agreed to the radical procedure, believing Dr. Money’s claims that this was their sole hope for raising a child who could have heterosexual intercourse—albeit as a sterile woman with a synthetic vagina and a body feminized with estrogen supplements.